Janet Daley was born in America where she began her political life on the Left as an undergraduate at Berkeley. She moved to Britain (and to the Right) in 1965 where she spent nearly twenty years in academic life before becoming a political commentator: all factors that inform her writing on British and American policy and politicians.

Official: 'progressive' does not mean Left wing

So we were right all along: those of us who argued that the word "progressive" was not understood by most people to mean Left wing or even liberal have been vindicated by a poll conducted by PoliticsHome.

Sadly under-reported, perhaps because it was published on a weekend in which the Afghan death toll dominated the news, it contains what may prove to be some of the most significant facts of current political life. Not only does this survey reveal that the Tories were indisputably the winners of that recent tug-of-war over which party had the right to claim the mantle of progressivism, but it contains some stunning revelations about what people actually believe the word to signify. Asked which political party was the most "progressive", the Conservatives and LibDems were tied at second place with 22 per cent. (The highest proportion of respondents – 35 per cent – thought no party was progressive.) Coming in at an ignominious fifth place was Labour with only 12 per cent.

But the data really gets interesting when it covers the definition of "progressive". Which words did most people feel were properly equated with the concept? The three favourites were "reforming" (63 per cent), "modernising" (61 per cent), and – wait for it – "enterprising" (45 per cent). In other words, the Blairite version of New Labour which embraced Thatcherism's idea of a modern society as being one based on reform and enterprise, has effectively undone the old-fashioned idea that traditional socialist solutions are "progressive".

So Tory briefers and Guardian commentators please note: when the Conservative party describes itself as "progressive", this does not mean that they are moving to the Left, or re-positioning themselves on some mythical Left-liberal centre ground. The voters' view of what is modern and forward-looking has moved on.